It's the leaked majority report of the Birth Control Commission, all over again. This time as farce, but with a twist--now the hierarchy is on board with the New.The bottom line is that the Franciscan iteration of the Gospel, following a supposedly-unique odor of modern man, has elided matters of personal sexual morality in favor of a dialogic graduality that will supposedly lead to full communion with the Church. Never mind that modern man's proclivities wouldn't have raised an eyebrow in first century Rome, but no matter.Nope. Now we're going to gradually bring people to the truth. This time for sure! In exactly the same way that three generations of ecumenical dialogue have lead to greater Christian unity.The bright side is that it will lighten the load of the bishops, allowing them to tackle such intractable matters as youth unemployment.Athanasius of Alexandria, white courtesy phone...Athanasius of Alexandria, white courtesy phone...

My response to "Are our communities capable of providing that [a 'welcoming home' to homosexuals], accepting and valuing their sexual orientation, without compromising Catholic doctrine on the family and matrimony?"- and to the rest of the rot - is to quote Romans 6:1-2: "What shall we say, then? shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. For we that are dead to sin, how shall we live any longer therein?"

We went from a Church that had but one Judas Iscariot in an influential seat to one that seems to have thousands upon thousands of him. We went from a Church where Mindszenty, von Galen and Wyszynski stood up to totalitarianism to a Church that hastens toward it. Miserere nobis.

Hey, at least all the cards are on the table now and we can proceed calmly in full knowledge of the crisis. As game theory models show, having the right information changes everything, and now we know--the "types" have been revealed. The masks are gone.

Does this mean that Catholic dating services will now accept the divorced but not annulled? After a period of reflection and penance?

Hot dog! Line up those hotties for me. Its been a quarter of a century since I bedded me a babe! Wait, let me put my teeth in, neaten my toupe, put on that new girdle and splash on some wrinkle away skin lotion, if I can find my reading glasses to differentiate it from that Preparation H or the Capsaisin Arthritis Cream. Ok. I am ready to take my avatar picture now. WOW!

So...what do we do now? As usual, the forces of the left in the Church and the media had complete control months before this Synod. Maradiaga's New Evangelization talk was forewarning. The Pope's odd utterances and name-calling and humiliation of several "conservative" priests and bishops all made this predictable. The member list of the "gang" speaks for itself. Wuerl put Bergoglio on the Chair of Peter and everywhere we turn we see Wuerl getting his reward. OK, so what, that makes for very enticing blogs. But how do we get our Church back? Prayer is not enough. The schools, the media, the chanceries, and now the Vatican are controlled by ... ? ... not sure what to even call them!?! Why are not thousands of Catholics emailing the Pope right now? Why did not hundreds of American Catholics write the Pope the day Crdl. Burke was axed? Why? Why? Why? We "true" Catholics sure talk a good talk. But when will we walk the walk?

Kathy. It is every bit as much our church as it is theirs and we are called to contend for the Faith.

And as nothing succeeds like failure, let's keep doing what we are doing.

We know who wins in the end but M.J. does not want to stand before the judgment seat of Christ to answer for what he did not do during this time of testing.

We have zero control/authority in the Church but it is ours nevertheless so don't let yourself be run oft by the shadow church.

M.J. has been writing to his local rag and he will be contacting his Pastor and Bishop to let them know where he stands and, for a lay-about like me (retired) daily Mass with all of the apt intentions; same for the rosary, novenas, etc

M.J. is Irish-Algonquin and during a time of war we take no prisoners.

Calls to mind-- as so much of this whole thing does-- a scene in *Fellowship of the Ring* when Strider tells a Hobbit (who as I recall has just answered in the affirmative to a question about whether he is frightened), "Not frightened enough. For I know what it is that follows you." I so want to say a version of this to some of those who previously ridiculed the concerned but are now beginning to feel at least somewhat concerned themselves. But they don't much listen to the likes of me anyway. So I will mostly just pray. A lot. Sybil Marshall here (The Systems Analyst is away and I don't know how to select profiles and so on.)

An an Episcopalian, I am disappointed. Can one still say, "At least the Church of Rome has the moral confidence to hold to scripture and tradition when the culture has gone its own way"? At best the Synod's report is confusing and muddies the waters.